Children and adults living with neurological disorders often experience reduced participation in daily life and physical activities, often due to alterations in central or peripheral neurologic function or muscle architecture (such as changes in muscle volume, sarcomere organisation, and extracellular matrix composition). These adaptations contribute to diminished muscle strength and power, impacting motor function and overall mobility. Consequently, physical activity levels and social participation are frequently limited in both clinical and community settings.
Therapeutic exercise is increasingly recognised not only as a strategy to restore gross motor function and minimise the risk of falls, but also as a means of enhancing executive and emotional functions, as well as overall quality of life. Emerging evidence highlights additional secondary prevention benefits, including neuroprotective effects that may influence the progression of neurological conditions.
The goal of this Research Topic is to gather cutting-edge research and clinical insights on the prescription and implementation of therapeutic exercise programs for individuals with neurological disorders. We seek to elucidate how exercise can prevent functional decline, restore activity and participation, manage risk factors, and optimise health and well-being throughout the lifespan.
We welcome submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following subtopics:
- Safety screening and individualised assessment: Innovations in safety screening before prescribing exercise, determining initial exercise dosage, and monitoring patient response for safe progression.
- Precision exercise dosing: Advances in personalised exercise prescription, including dose-response relationships for reducing impairment, improving activity, and increasing societal participation.
- Exercise modalities and delivery: Prescribing aerobic, resistance, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), neuromuscular, and combined programs tailored to hospital, community, or telerehabilitation settings.
- Integration of digital health and technology: Use of wearable devices, virtual reality, and tele-exercise platforms for real-time monitoring, feedback, and engagement.
- Task-specific and functional training: The role of activity-based, task-oriented, and dual-task training on functional independence and participation outcomes.
- Mechanisms and biomarkers: Emerging insights into the underlying mechanisms (e.g., neuroplasticity, muscle-bone cross-talk, biomarkers) mediating exercise benefits and individual response.
- Mental health and psychosocial outcomes: Effects of therapeutic exercise on cognition, emotional well-being, self-efficacy, and social inclusion.
- Adaptations for special populations: Exercise adaptation for rare, progressive, or comorbid neurological conditions (e.g., autism spectrum disorders, multiple sclerosis, pediatric neuromuscular diseases, stroke rehabilitation).
- Early intervention and lifelong health: The role of exercise in addressing challenges across the transition from childhood to adolescence and adulthood from a life-course perspective.
-Behaviour change and implementation strategies to promote long-term physical activity behaviour change and maintenance.
We invite original research, systematic reviews, clinical trials, perspectives, and case studies that advance understanding and best practices in therapeutic exercise for neurological disorders.
Keywords: Therapeutic Exercise, Neurology, Participation, Brain Health, Neuroprotection
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
